Aerosol dispenser siphon construction



9 19 w. R. ODONNELL AEROSOL DISPENSER sx uou CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 5, 1962 INVENTOR. WL Ilium R. O D nne AGENT 3,160,182 AEROSOL DISPENSER SIPHON CONSTRUCTION William R. ODonnell, Trumbull, Conn., assignor to Valve Corporation of America, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 5, 1962, Ser. No. 228,703 1 Claim. (Cl. 141-20) This invention relates to small aerosol dispensers of the type having a container adapted to be heldin the hand when the dispenser is placed in use, and more particularly to the siphon or dip tube construction of such dispensers.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved small aerosol dispenser of the kind intended to be pressure filled, as with a fast (water base) gas, wherein the siphon or dip tube is attached to the valve housing by a simple and quick press fit yet is securely retained in place against the dislodging forces which occur during the pressure-fill operation. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved aerosol dispenser siphon tube construction as above set forth, wherein a unique shield member is provided for covering the edge of the internally pressfitted end of the dip tube, thereby to deflect the flow of the pressure filling aerosol substance from said edge and thus remove the forces tending to dislodge the tube.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved siphon tube construction in an aerosol device as outlined, which .is especially adaptable to fabrication using plastic materials, and using extrusion and molding techniques.

Features of the invention reside in the provision of an aerosol siphon tube construction in accordance with the foregoing, wherein a minimum number of parts are required, wherein the parts may be economically fabricated and assembled, and wherein reliable operation is had under the required conditions of filling and dispensing.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, similar characters of reference are used to designate like components throughout the several views, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an aerosol dispenser of the type embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the aerosol dispenser, showing the valve and dip tube construction, and illustrating the pressure-fill operation involving a pressure-fill dome which has been applied to the container.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view, taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the actuator button of the dispenser.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2, but showing the position of the valve and associated parts when the device is in the dispensing condition.

Referring to FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10 designates generally an aerosol container of the type adapted to be sealed and to withstand developed internal pressure of an expandable propellant incorporated with aerosol substance contents to be sprayed, or to withstand pre-applied gas pressure. The top opening of the container is closed by permanently secured valve mounting 11 curled, as at 12, at its periphery into engagement with a curled rim 13 bordering the container mouth.

The valve mounting 11 is cup-shaped with a cylindrical outer wall 14 and planar bottom wall 15, having a rep Ce entrant neck 16 coaxial with the outer wall and of less height axially.

At the top of the neck 16 is a cross-wall 17 of some what dished shape but occupying in general a plane parallel to the bottom wall 15, and having a central opening 18 the peripheral edge of which curls upwardly providing an upstanding rim 19 for defining said opening. The valve mounting 11 may be stamped or drawn from sheet metal of adequate strength to constitute a mounting for the valve assembly.

The valve assembly includes a hollow cylindrical housing 20 which is of semi-rigid character made of molded plastic material. The upper end portion 21 of this housing is of upwardly outwardly flaring bell formation and adapted to be secured in the neck 16 by displacing the metal of said neck as shown at 22. The lower end 23 of said housing comprises a hollow boss, being of less external diameter than the upper bell end, and being adapted to receive and retain a dip tube 24 therein in a novel and unique manner, as will be later described in detail. It will be understood that said dip tube is of uniform inside and outside diameter throughout its length and extends to the bottom of the container as usual to convey the fluid therefrom to said housing irrespective of the level of the fluid in the container at the particular occasion ofuse. The housing 20 is hollow for its entire length, the tail end having a passageway 25x, 25 of less diameter than the part of the hollow interior, here designated as the housing chamber 26, which chamber extends to the top of said housing where it flares to an even wider diameter.

The upper end of said housing 20 is fiat at its periphery and receives a flexible gasket 27 which is compressed between said flat end and the overlying marginal portion of the neck cross-wall 17, thereby securing the gasket tightly in place and constituting a seal thereat. The passageway 25, chamber 26, gasket 27 and neck 16 are all coaxial with each other and with the outer wall 14 of the mounting 11. material, of which rubber, buna and neoprene are examples.

Within said chamber 26 there is located the lower end portion of a valve-stem 28 which is tubular but closed at its bottom end. At a distance from its bottom end, said valve-stem has a bead or valve shoulder 29 projecting therefrom one function of which is to constitute a stop that will engage the under side of the gasket 27 in closed condition of the valve and thereby limit upward movement of the valve stem. Another function of said head 29 is to be engaged by a spring 30, by which the stem is normally forced to its uppermost position. A short distance above the bead 29 there is a hole 31 for admitting fluid from the outside to the inside of the valve stem, at such times as when the stem is depressed.

Normally, the gasket 27 is flat and its inner periphery hugs the valve stem to seal the passage and prevent fluid from leaving the chamber 26 around the outside of the said valve-stem. With the valve stem in its upward position the side hole is within or above the gasket, and out-flow of the fluid is then prevented. Thus, with the valve-stem 28 in its normal position under the influence of the spring 30, fluid in the container cannot escape, but when outflow is desired the user can depress the stem whereby fluid will be admitted through said hole 31 from chamber 26 to the hollow interior of the stem, to be discharged out of the open upper end thereof. A button 32 is mounted on the upper end of said valvestem for convenient user operation, such button having an outlet orifice 33 at its side in communication with the hollow of the valve-stem.

The valve assembly of the present invention is con structed to permit gas or other fluid to be introduced into The gasket 27 may be of any suitable the container for loading or charging purposes with far greater freedom than exists in connection with the outllow thereof in use. To accomplish this, the central opening 18 provided bythe upstanding rim 19 has a larger diameter than the valve-stem while the stem which passes through the opening is kept within a reasonable diameter and maintained substantially coaxial by the upstanding rim. Also, by virtue of the bell formation of the upper end of the housing, the support for the gasket 27 by said housing is at a much larger circle than the diameter of the said central opening in the cross wall 17 above the gasket. gasket substantially flat when pressure is applied at the under side of the gasket, it will be clear as shown in FIG. 2, that when pressure is applied at the top side of said gasket, the Wider opening therebelow will permit the gasket to be sprung downwardly atits middle area.

For introducing gas or other fluid into the container, the valve mounting can be brought into engagement with a feed bell having an annular lower rim 34 that substantially fits within the outer wall 14 of the mounting and is temporarily sealed by engagement of a yieldable sealing ring 35 around the periphery of said rim. The 7 parts are proportioned so that at the same time the rim is sealed in the valve mounting, another part, as the head portion 36 of the feed ball, will engage the top of the button 32 and depress the valve stem 28. The charging fluid is under a pressure which is considerably greater than atmospheric pressure, coming from a suitable source of supply (not shown) through an entrance port 37 in the feed bell, and due to the pressure thereof it deflects the gasket 27 downwardly at its middle area so that the fluid enters the housing through said gasket and around the outside of the valve-stem. Release of the container from the feed bell rim 34 and discontinuance of the pressure of fluid supplied by said feed bell enable the button and valve-stem to move upwardly to the normal position under the influence of the spring 30, at the same time the gasket 27 resumes its flat condition so as to seal at its inner periphery against said stem.

It will be noted that ample space is provided in the feed bell to pass the charging fluid around the button 32 to the'under side thereof. Lest the feed bell might, under some conditions, push the bottom of the button against the mounting 11, radial grooves 38 are provided in the under face of the button. Also, since the valvestem 28 is smaller in diameter than the central opening 13 an adequate passage of fluid will occur, and the deflection of the gasket 27 readily passes the fluid under pressure coming to it from said opening. The chamber 26 has a diameter considerably larger than the diameter of the spring 30 so the fluid can pass freely around the outside of the spring. A plurality of longitudinal ridges 39 project laterally toward the spring to guide the same and reserve the greater portion of the chamber outwardly of the spring for free passage of the fluid. At the bottom end of the spring, the ridges are shouldered inwardly at 40 so as to constitute a support for thespring. The ridges 39 continue to the passageway 25x so that there is ample space for passage of the fluid past the bottom end of the spring from said chamber to the passageway 25x.

In accordance with the present invention, the dip tube 24 is press-fitted into the depending hollow boss 23 of the valve housing 20 and into an annular downwardly opening annular recess thereof disposed around and concentric with the lower end of the passageway 252:, instead of being secured around the exterior of the boss. A flared mouth 23a is provided at the lower end of the boss 23 for the purpose of guiding the top portion of the dip or siphon tube at the time of assembly. Further, the invention provides a novel means by which the interiorly located press-fitted siphon tube is retained in place and held against dislodgement during the pressure filling of the container 10. The said means, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, comprises a tubular shield Consequently, while the cross wall will keep the v member 44 which is carried by the valve housing 20 at its interior and which encircles the central passage 25x thereof, forming the said annular recess surrounding the lower end of the passageway 25x and receiving the upper end of the dip tube in a press fit. The shield member 44 has a lower portion 46 of lesser diameter than, and which is disposed within the upper end portion 24a of the siphon tube whereby the shield covers the upper edge and interior edge portion of the tube, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7. The shield member 44 thus shields the upper edge portion 24a of the siphon tube from the downward flow of the pressurized aerosol substance during the pressure-filling of the container.

Preferably, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the upper edge portion 24a of the siphon tube 24 has a tapered cross section but constant outside diameter, and the tubular shield member 44 has a conical outer wall 44a which meets the wall of the bore 25 of the depending boss 23, forming therewith an annular wedging recess. The upper edge portion 24a of the siphon tube 24 is wedged in the said recess and by virtue of its tapering wall configuration the portion substantially wholly fits and occupies the wedging recess. Also, in accordance with the invention, the shield member 44 and the valve housing 20 are made integral with each other, and fabricated of a molded plastic composition. The siphon tube 24 is also of plastic substance, being usually fabricated by an extrusion process. The housing 20, shield member 44 and siphon tube 24 are of yieldable construction, being somewhat resilient in that these parts tend to return to their original shapes in the event that they are deformed within limits.

With such organization the outer diameter of the siphon tube 24 is preferably made slightly larger than the diameter of the bore 25 of the depending boss 23, thereby to provide a tight press fit. Also, when the siphon tube 24 is forcibly assembled to the boss 23, slight irregularities between the shapes of the top edge portion 24a of the tube and the wedging recess formed by the shield member 44 will result in deformations of the mating surfaces and parts, by which an effective seal is produced.

It will be noted that the diameter'of the bore 25x of the shield member 44, constituting a portion of the central passage of the valve housing 20, is slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the siphon tube 24, whereby the lower edge portion of the shield 44 enters the siphon tube for a short distance. I have found that by such construction the siphon tube 24 will be securely retained against dislodgement in the depending boss 23 in spite of the forces tending to dislodge the two during the pressure filling of the container.

The above siphon tube construction as provided by the invention is seen to be especially simple, involving relatively few parts which may be economically molded or fabricated of plastic substance. Moreover, as determined by actual use, the siphon tube 24 will be securely held in its assembled position during the pressure filling; and subsequent dispensing of the aeorsol substance from the container.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claim, and portions of the improvement may be used without others.

I claim:

In an aerosol dispenser having a container adapted to be held in the hand, in combination:

(a) a tubular valve housing having a central passage for aerosol substance and a hollow depending boss at its lower end for supporting a dip tube, said boss having an elongate bore communicating with the said central passage and adapted for engagement with the tube,

(b) a dip tube press-fitted in the bore of the depending boss and having an upper end portion which is of uniform outside diameter and is disposed an ap preciable distance above the bottom end of the boss,

said tube having uniform outside diameter through- 5 6 out and extending downward from the boss for imdiameter substantially equal to the outside diameter mersion in the liquid of the container, and of the dip tube,

(c) a tubular shield carried by the valve housing at (c) said tubular shield having a conical outer wall its interior and encircling the said central passage meeting the wall of the bore of the boss and formthereof, said shield having an internal diameter 5 ing therewith an annular wedging recess. said upper which is smaller than the normal internal diameter end of the dip tube being wedged in said recess, of the dip tube measured below the top edge porv (f) the upper end of the dip tube having a tapered tion thereof, and having a lower portion of thin cross section substantially fitting the wedging recess cross section disposed within the said upper end of of the valve housing.

the dip tube whereby the shield covers the upper 10 edge and interior of, the upper edge of the tube and Referellces (med in the me of this Patet shields it from the flow of pressurized aerosol sub- UNlTED STATES PATENTS stance during pressure filling of the container. 1 098 974. R ill June 2 1914 (1/) said valve housing having an annular recess d 1,894,700 Parker Jan. 17, 1933 fined by said shield, in which the upper end of the 15 2,895,556 Huthsing et al. July 21, 1959 dip tube is received, said recess having its greatest 2,913,154 Rutter Nov. 17, 1959 

